CREDIT RATINGS
No change in US rating: S&P
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) is affirming the US’ credit rating following Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s election win. The rating stands one notch below S&P’s top “AAA” grade, which the US lost in 2011 after a standoff in Congress over whether to raise the nation’s borrowing limit. S&P Global Ratings says the outlook for its “AA+” rating on US debt remains stable. It says the country’s strong economy and government institutions offset its high level of debt and any uncertainty about what kind of economic policies Trump’s administration will pursue.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Samsung unit soars on IPO
Shares of Samsung Electronics Co’s drug-making unit soared almost 6 percent on their market debut yesterday, after one of South Korea’s biggest ever initial public offerings (IPO) that raised nearly US$2 billion. Samsung Biologics Co, a contract manufacturer of biotech drugs for global pharmaceutical firms, surged 5.88 percent from its IPO price to close at 144,000 won in Seoul, putting its total value at about 9.5 trillion won (US$8.3 billion). The firm makes biopharmaceutical drugs for major firms, including Bristol-Myers Squibb and Roche, at plants near Seoul.
AUTOMAKERS
SUVs propel China sales
China’s auto sales rose 20.3 percent last month from a year earlier, propelled by surging demand for sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Industry group China Association of Automobile Manufacturers yesterday said that dealers sold 2.3 million cars, minivans and SUVs in the world’s biggest auto market. Total vehicle sales, including trucks and buses, rose 18.6 percent to 2.6 million units. Sales growth plunged last year, but rebounded after Beijing suspended a sales tax. Growth is expected to drop back to single digits after the tax cut expires at the end of the year.
FOOD
San Miguel rethinks sale
Argentina’s San Miguel, the nation’s biggest exporter of lemons, is to meet with financial advisers to discuss the timing of a share sale after the surprise win by US president-elect Donald Trump, according to three people familiar with the decision. Executives were to meet on Wednesday afternoon to discuss when the sale of as much as US$50 million in shares should take place, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The company had considered a Trump win unlikely during its planning for the offering and officials are now reconsidering the timing, two of the people said. The US is expected to approve the import of Argentine lemons before Trump takes office, Argentine agricultural attache in Washington Jose Molina said on Wednesday.
PHARMACEUTICALS
EpiPen maker under probe
The maker of EpiPen emergency allergy injectors, under scrutiny for repeatedly jacking up the price of the life-saving device, on Wednesday said it is a target of two price-related probes by federal agencies and has had its premises searched. The news, disclosed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, came after Mylan Inc reported that it swung to a third-quarter loss, mainly due to a big settlement for overcharging the federal government for the product. Mylan’s results missed analysts’ expectations and the firm stuck with the reduced full-year profit forecast it issued last month when it announced that US$465 million settlement.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day